Last week of 2011: Our printers need a break, our people keep on going
As mentioned in our previous blog post about the year in 3D printing, we can say with total confidence that 2011 was a big year. Not only was it a big year for the entire 3D printing industry, but also for us at i.materialise. We have seen our monthly orders increase with almost 300% and our turnover has more than quadrupled. For this we want to thank you, our dear customers and creative designers.
Of course, such wonderful labor has taxed all of our hard working machines and so we’ve decided to give them a well-deserved holiday break between the 23rd of December and the 2nd of January of 2012. After all, we don’t want them to turn against us and start a whole Terminator revolt. To be honest with you, we are already taking the necessary steps to avoid this by giving them some extra space in our new (still under construction) building.
Another important date is the 27th of December. On that day there won’t be any access to our website, our blog and any of our online services a
When Dreams are Materialised
Meet Ritik, an 11 year old young man with a creative heart and dreams of a 3D printed world. Our first encounter with Ritik was at TEDxKids in Brussels a year ago. It was on that day that Ritik made his first contact with 3D printing and it became quite clear that it was like love at first sight. After receiving an introduction, Ritik’s creative mind began to work overtime. “Could I print an iPod? Or what about a car?” he thought to himself. The answer to his question was eventually found in creating a pair of 3D printable glasses. With a fixed idea in mind, Ritik now started the design process in an easy to use software application called 3DTin.
Little did he know that his design would eventually make its way to the Antwerp based M HKA Museum where it would be exhibited to demonstrate what an 11 year old kid could do with this innovative technology.
But Ritik’s story doesn’t end there. After his first contact with his new passion, Ritik received the great news of his fat
How to Win the Spotlight in a Museum
In September we organized a unique design challenge with the Antwerp based museum of M HKA (Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp). You could participate as a youngster or beginner, as an illustrative artist or as a 3D designer. With that said and the information out in the open, our brave challengers got their gloves on and got to it. After long hours of working on their designs, we received the entries from our participants ready for judging time! And so, together with a judging panel of the M HKA museum we came to a unified decision on the winners of this challenge.
With well-deserved congratulations, we present to you their works of art that will be on display at the M HKA from the 19th until the 29th of December.
For the category of Designers
For the category of Youngster & Beginners
For the category of Illustrative Artists
So there you have it ladies and gentlemen and as usual we’d like to thank all of the participants for their lovely entr
Columbia GSAPP Saturated Models 3D printed: Velcro Panel System
Alistair Gill and Veronika Schmid held a Saturated Models seminar at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. During the seminar the Master’s students explored 3D printing and created 3D printed objects. i.materialise made the resulting 3D prints. This is the seventh interview with a team of participating architecture students and their project: Velcro Panel System by John Hooper & Julie Jira.
What is the Velcro Panel System? And does it work like Velcro?
The Velcro Panel System is intended to generate varying degrees of tension within an environment. The tension is facilitated through a hook and loop system, which is conceptually similar to the way Velcro performs. This Velcro panel system works well in tension, especially when hung. The panels are able to adhere to each other and morph into their own set of physical characteristics through interaction with other objects.
Why did you make it?
The intention was to create objects, which woul
Using 3D Printing to Entertain your Ears
You’ve seen it with your own eyes, you’ve felt it in your hands, but have you heard what 3D printing is capable of?
For those of you who don’t know him already, let me introduce you to Erec: a man who creates wonderful 3D printed flutes in his spare time. He offers his custom made flutes for sale on his website Cutting Edge Flutes and also provides the service of making them food safe.
The following video will you show you one of his flutes that got printed at i.materialise in multicolor.
More of Erec”s work can be seen on his YouTube account and if you too would like to design something in multicolor, stay tuned cuss next week we”ll discuss the best tips and tricks of this great material.
The Winning Design of the Peeters & Pichal Challenge has been 3D Printed
We recently organized a Dutch design challenge with the Belgian Radio 1 Peeters & Pichal Show. The objective was to design an object that you would give away to someone close to you. In this case, the winning design was that of Dutch designer Ricardo de Koning: A Design for your Flowers as he called it, to be given as a gift to his mother. Today we’re proud to introduce the finished print of that winning design.
Once again, we would like to congratulate the winner and thank all participants for their entries. As mentioned in the past, there are always more design challenges on the horizon and that’s also true at this very moment with our “Hats off to 3D Printing Challenge”. So don’t hesitate to get creative once more and take another shot at the hall of 3D Print fame.
The Hats Off to 3D Printing Challenge
Do you have big dreams of seeing your hats or accessories hit the runway, gracing the heads of glamorous models? Or, do you love 3D printing and enjoy pitting your creative abilities against those of others? Either way, this is the competition for you! So, get on your thinking caps, because it is time to get creative!
You now have the chance to get your work exposed on a fashion runway at the Materialise World Conference of 2012 in Leuven. It’s the ultimate place where the top industry professionals from all over the world gather to celebrate the latest achievements in additive manufacturing. In the world of 3D printing, you couldn’t hope for better exposure than that!
The competition will be running from today until the 15th of February of 2012 with in the jury panel none other than the Master milliner himself, Elvis Pompilio. The winner will be announced on the 1st of March and will have a spot on the runway amongst the top 20 designs.
So if you are looking for some expo
Exhibiting Dutch artist Eric van Straaten
Some of you might already have seen his work in the past. While some of you might have seen his recent work on our flickr account. But for the lucky few amongst us, Eric van Straaten’s work awaits us at PAN Amsterdam 2011. His great works of art will be on display from the 20th of November till the 27th of November at the RAI Parkhal on the stand of Majke Husstege.
At the exhibition you will find seven of Eric”s recent achievements. Amongst them, the images below which were 3D printed in our multicolor material: his primary weapon of choice.
If this kind of art is your cup of tea, you can always view what the great artist is up to on his personal website.
Multicolor is a great and affordable material for also other models than these of Eric. Detailed characters can be brought to life in color just as well as architectural models. So if you have a great design planned and your mind is thinking in color, don’t hesitate a second longer and give this material a tr
Jennifer’s Two-Faced Medallion
Dutch artist Jennifer Hoes has recently 3D printed a very nice set of stainless steel medallions at i.materialise. The medallions showcase the many faces of the artist in an attempt to remind us of the many faces that we create for ourselves in these modern times. We create our different identities towards the outside world on a daily basis. From the face we show at work, to the face we put on at home, to the face we hide behind when we’re online. It was this interesting fact of life that brought Jennifer to the Roman God Janus, famous for his two faces that represented the balance in society and who became the main inspiration for this work of art.
Jennifer shares five of her expressions with us: happiness, anger, sadness, fearful and neutral. The happiness and anger expressions are facing outwards while the mirrored image can be admired on the medallion’s inside. The neutral expression has been 3D printed on the medallion’s edge as a barrier between the two opposite expres
And the Winner is…
The Peeters & Pichal challenge has come to an end and together with the Radio 1 jury members we’ve come to our decision on a winner. As with all challenges, it’s never easy to choose the winning design, but as we all knew… there could only be one…
…and that winner is the Dutch designer Ricardo de Koning with his stylish Design for your Flowers.
Our winner was in search of a nice vase that could match the modern interior of their house but ended up finding the same old traditional vase designs everywhere he went. Nothing really stood out and his search was getting him nowhere until he stumbled upon this challenge. It was the perfect opportunity to remind us of the power of 3D printing. So instead of buying a simplistic vase, Ricardo took it upon himself to participate in this challenge and design the perfect vase that would match the look of their home. He decided to dedicate the vase to his mother. For those who speak Dutch, you can listen to the interview between Belgian Rad
